The Fifth Ministerial Conference—London,
May 2007
25. The fifth Ministerial Conference is due to be
held in London on 17-18 May 2007. The Bergen Communiqué
proposed that the London conference should focus on:
- implementation of the standards
and guidelines for quality assurance as proposed in the ENQA report;
- implementation of the national frameworks for
qualifications;
- the awarding and recognition of joint degrees,
including at the doctorate level;
- creating opportunities for flexible learning
paths in higher education, including
- procedures for the recognition of prior learning.
26. The Communiqué also called on the Bologna
Follow up Group (BFUG) to present "comparable data on the
mobility of staff and students as well as on the social and economic
situation of students in participating countries as a basis for
future stocktaking and reporting in time for the next Ministerial
Conference."[18]
27. The DfES have told us that this event:
"[…] has to satisfy a number of objectives.
It needs to ensure that momentum is maintained and provide an
assessment of how much more needs to be done in order to achieve
the objective of creating an EHEA by 2010. It also has to provide
a review of progress since the last Ministerial conference and
set out the agreed priorities for the next two years."
"The Government's intention is to make the
event as forward looking and as participative as possible, and
to minimise the time spent reporting progress. The Government
is therefore seeking to use the conference as the basis for a
first discussion of what the EHEA might look like post 2010 and
to provoke more of a discussion about HE reform in Europe beyond
Bologna, setting the whole conference in the context of the challenge
of the internationalisation of higher education".[19]
28. Progress reports from each of the signatory countries
can be read on the Bologna Secretariat web-site.[20]
Papers and documents for the London meeting in May 2007 are not
likely to be available until nearer the event.
29. The importance of the outcomes of the London
meeting for higher education in the UK should not be underestimated.
To take a single example, that of Engineering, the Engineering
Council have told us:
"Because of the role which the MEng [degree]
has as a preparation for professional practice, ECUK and the professional
engineering institutions are seen by many in universities as the
bodies which should make a decision about the future of the MEng.
We are currently considering the matter, but would prefer to await
the outcomes of the London ministerial meeting in May 2007 and
of the review of ECTS before making any firm recommendations to
universities" .[21]
30. Although the main topics of the agenda may be
pre-determined, this does not mean that the UK will not be able
to influence the next steps in the Bologna process. As the UK
HE Unit have said, "As hosts of the summit in London…
the UK has an invaluable opportunity to further influence developments
over the coming months and years."[22]
31. This inquiry has taken place over the last
6 months in order to facilitate broad discussion of the UK position
in advance of the London Summit in May, with the intention of
making a constructive contribution to the negotiations at the
2007 Summit and beyond.
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